Posted inNews

Crimes of the Art

On this week’s art crime blotter: the makers of a Millennium Falcon–shaped shed struck back, a thief attempted to hold a sculpture ransom, and a painting of a nude man with a teapot set local prudes boiling.

Posted inNews

Crimes of the Art

On this week’s art crime blotter: raccoons go on rogue art crawl, artists’ work is trapped after a gallery’s eviction, and a Star Wars print is swiped by Canadians who’ve gone over to the dark side.

Posted inOpinion

CIA Copies Star Wars for Aborted Osama bin Laden Propaganda Doll

American propaganda has come a long way since genteel writer Peter Mathieesen founded The Paris Review as part of his CIA gig in postwar France. The Washington Post today reported that the intelligence agency tapped Donald Levine, the seasoned former Hasbro executive responsible for G.I. Joe, to create a demonic Osama Bin Laden toy for distribution in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Posted inNews

Exploring the Relationship of Death, Sculpture, and Modernity

This week we are pleased to publish an essay by sculptor and blogger John Powers about the relationship of death, sculpture, and modernity. The essay, titled “Art, Not Suicide,” wrestles with Rosalind Krauss and her influential essay “Sculpture in the Expanded Field,” as a starting point and asks, “What is the role of death in modern sculpture?” What he finds may surprise you.

Posted inArt

A Review of “Star Wars and Modernism: An Artist Commentary”

This past Thursday, sculptor John Powers presented excerpts of his ambitious project “Star Wars and Modernism: An Artist Commentary.” Accompanied by composer R. Luke Dubois and Columbia Art History Fellow and Triple Canopy senior editor Colby Chamberlain, who provided editorial assistance, the film is an original and provocative look at Star Wars not merely as a Hollywood blockbuster and mythic narrative, but as an art object.